A Performance Simulation Tool for Bipolar Pulsed PCB Plating

摘要

The copper plating process is one of the most critical steps in the high end PCB manufacturing process. Although the deposition inside through holes and blind holes is the key factor for reducing the fall out fraction, the thickness distribution over the entire layout is also critical, in particular for multiplayer designs. A performance plating simulation tool (P2ST) for the prediction of layer thickness distributions over PCB's is presented. This tool takes into account the bath characteristics (conductivity, electrode polarization), the PCB layout, the electrical signal parameters (DC current or bipolar current amplitudes and duty cycle), and the PCB positioning in the plating tank.rnThis tool allows us to perform a fast prediction of the layer thickness distribution over tracks, pads, ground planes, robbers etc. The tool can be used by any PCB manufacturer either in the cost estimation phase and/or as an auxiliary tool in the CAM work flow. In the latter case, the tools represents a powerful asset for the optimization of pulse signal and/or background patters (copper balancing) towards layer uniformity specifications.